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Nazi medic Dr Johan Jambor, who treated Hitler at the Battle of the Somme, confirmed Hitler had lost a testicle. He said Hitler had asked him if this meant he would still be able to have children. General Franco’s doctor’s grand-daughter confirmed that Franco had also lost a testicle in battle after an injury to the lower abdomen in 1916. Napoleon is also rumoured to have had one testicle, though it would appear from his autopsy that this was not the case. However, his genitals were reported to have been ‘strikingly small, infantile and undersized’, the organ in question measuring just 1 1/4 inches.

Apples are better at waking you up in the morning than caffeine.

Although apples do not contain caffeine, they do have the glucose that fuels your brain and gives you energy

A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, rivalling humans in the scale of its world domination.

Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, America and Japan belong to the same inter-related colony, and will refuse to fight one another. The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species. Argentine ants were once native to South America, but people have unintentionally introduced the ants to all continents except Antarctica. In Europe, one vast colony of 600 billion Argentine ants is thought to stretch for 6,000 km along the Mediterranean coast, while another of 90 billion extends over 900 km along the coast of California. A third huge colony of 300 million ants exists on the west coast of Japan. Together they are about as brainy as 2,000 humans.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a founder and the first goalkeeper of Portsmouth FC.

While living in Southsea and writing his first two Sherlock Holmes stories, Arthur Conan Doyle played football under the pseudonym A.C. Smith. His team, the Portsmouth Association Football Club, later became Portsmouth FC.

Did you know that women spend 16 months of their lives crying? For more surprising truths, see our list of QI facts

Most banana plants have not had sex for 10,000 years.

Almost every banana we eat is propagated by hand, a process which first started in the jungles of South East Asia at the end of the last ice age. As a result, scientists are worried that the banana lacks the genes to fight off modern-day pests and diseases, and could face extinction.

Kevin Spacey glued his fingers together in the film The Usual Suspects to give his left hand the feeling of paralysis.

In the 1995 film, Spacey also filed down his shoes to make them look more worn by his character’s limp

In 1943, the US Army developed a new incendiary bomb involving bats with napalm strapped to their wings.

The US military had planned to release the bats over Japanese cities, imagining that when the bats went to roost in the wood and paper buildings, they would go up in flames. Aside from the atomic bomb, another reason for abandoning the project was that on their first airborne test, the bats burned a US army base to the ground.

This bat-bomb canister was used to house the hibernating bats. It would be dropped from high altitude over the target area attached to a parachute. As it fell, the bats would warm up and awaken, until at 1,000 feet, the bomb would open and release over 1,000 bats, each carrying a tiny time-delayed napalm incendiary device, to roost in flammable wooden Japanese buildings.

The US Army Base in Carsbad, New Mexico was set alight by errant bats from the experimental bat bomb project.

During the Cold War, British nuclear submarines were instructed that if the Today programme was off-air without explanation for three consecutive days, it was a signal that Britain had been wiped out.

Historian professor Peter Hennessy maintains in his book The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War 1945–1970, that upon this signal, the commanders of British nuclear submarines were to open sealed instructions from the Prime Minister on how to respond. Hennessy believes that this test still applies to Trident submarines today.

A man’s beard grows fastest when he anticipates sex.

It was confirmed in 1970 by an anonymous Cambridge scientist writing in a letter entitled ‘Effects of Sexual Activity on Beard Growth In Men’ published in the scientific journal Nature. While on a near remote island, he had measured his beard growth ‘by collecting and weighing the shavings from the head of a Philips Philishaver razor’. He discovered that during the day or so before sexual activity, his beard grew much faster and that, within a day or two of resuming sexual activity, his beard growth slowed.

Carlsberg Special Brew was created for Winston Churchill on the behest of the Danish government.

According to Carlsberg’s website: ‘Special Brew was originally brewed for Winston Churchill. His visit to Copenhagen in 1950 was commemorated with a “special” brew produced in his honour. . . as Churchill’s favourite drink was cognac, the brewers at Carlsberg created a stronger lager with cognac flavours amongst its tasting notes.’

A chicken can live for up to two years without its head.

In 1945, a cockerel in Colorado had his head chopped off and lived. Incredibly, the axe had missed the jugular vein and left enough of the brainstem attached to the neck for him to survive, even thrive. Mike, as he was known, became a national celebrity, touring the country and featuring in Time and Life magazines. At the height of his fame, Mike was making $4,500 a month, and was valued at $10,000.

Writer Graham Greene once came second in a 1949 ‘write like Graham Greene’ contest.

His entry was entitled ‘The Stranger’s Hand’, and was submitted under the pen name ‘N. Wilkinson’. Similarly, during the 1920s Charlie Chaplin once went to a Charlie Chaplin-look-alike competition in San Francisco, but didn’t even make it to the finals. Other stars who have successfully disguised themselves include Paul McCartney, who in 1984 donned dark glasses and went busking in London’s Leicester Square Tube station. He only made a few pounds, but donated this to charity. Sting has also worn a disguise to go busking. He made £40 for his efforts, and one woman recognised him, although she was silenced by a man behind her in the crowd who told her ‘You silly cow, it’s not him, he’s a multi-millionaire.’

A computer error resulted in 41,000 Parisians who’d committed parking offences being sent letters charging them with murder, extortion and organised prostitution.

Recipients were reportedly ‘surprised’ by the contents of the letters sent out on 6 September 1989, some of which also contained charges of drug trafficking and deviant sexual practices. The misprints were allegedly caused by an ‘error’ in the court computer system.

Three-fingered Postman Pat was given an extra finger in Japanese merchandising, in case children thought he was a member of the Yakuza criminal society, whose members have their little fingers cut off to show loyalty.

More recently Bob the Builder’s creators, Hit Entertainment, also decided to give all merchandising of three-fingered Bob an extra digit. Many Japanese believe the Western cartoon creators were being too sensitive, and while Japanese children might joke that the characters were in the mafia, they wouldn’t be scared. ‘Yubitsume’, or finger shortening, is a Japanese ritual to atone for offences to another.

German submarine U-1206 was sunk by ‘improper use’ of the toilet by the captain.

U-1206, which went into service in March 1944, was one of the late war boats fitted with new deep-water high-pressure flushing toilets, which allowed them to be used at depth. Flushing these toilets was so complicated that special technicians were trained to operate them. On 14 April 1945, while off the coast of Scotland, official reports state that the captain’s misuse flooded the submarine’s batteries, releasing chlorine gas, and forcing the vessel to the surface, where it was bombed by British patrols. However, there has been speculation that this was a complicated surrender ploy from a captain who could see his side would soon lose the war.

By weight, hamburgers cost more than new cars.

A Burger King Whopper costs £13,782 per tonne, whereas a Renault Clio costs just £11,234 per tonne. Additionally, producing a half-pound hamburger releases as much CO2 into the atmosphere as driving a 3,000-pound car nearly ten miles.

James Bond is known as ‘Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang’ in Italy.

The original main title theme to Thunderball was entitled ‘Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang’, written by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse. The title was taken from an Italian journalist who in 1962 dubbed agent 007 as ‘Mr Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang’.

Some cultures kiss by biting off one another’s eyelashes.

In many Pacific islands, there is no concept of erotic kissing, but biting is considered erotic. Inhabitants of the Trobriand Islands ‘kiss’ in a three-step procedure, beginning with biting each other’s lower lips, then pulling their partner’s hair, before nibbling off each other’s eyelashes. As a result, it is a status symbol to have short eyelashes, as it is a sign of your popularity.

Travelling on the Tube for 40 minutes is the equivalent of smoking two cigarettes.

According to research by University College, London, such is the concentration of dust particles, that travelling on the Underground for 40 minutes is the equivalent to smoking two cigarettes.

The Unbelievable Truth by Jon Naismith and Graeme Garden, foreword by David Mitchell is published by Preface, £16.99 out now